Education & Training

Instructors

Henry Bakemeyer

Henry Bakemeyer has over 37 years experience working in both custom and captive die casting environments and has a wide range of field experience from die cast machine operator to part-owner of a start-up die casting operation. Assignments have included design of casting and secondary tooling; solving tooling and process related problems; and complete managing of die cast projects from product start-ups to plant start-ups. He has designed and supervised the construction of hundreds, aluminum and zinc molds in his career. Henry has organized and conducted in plant training programs from print reading to statistical process control, and die casting technology.  Add to this his extensive experience in computer analysis of die cast die metal and heat flow.

Henry is an Electrical Engineering graduate of the University of Wisconsin, and has NADCA certification as a Die Casting Technician, Process Engineer and Tooling Engineer.  He has served as a NADCA instructor for 13 years in a range of education courses including, Designing Casting Dies, Product Design, Die Materials Metallurgy, Gating, Heat Flow, Dimensional Repeatability and SMED. He is author of the NADCA Operator Training Program and has served as a member of the NADCA Industry Product Standards, Safety and Education committees. He is currently Chairman of NADCA-Wisconsin Chapter 12.

Courses Henry teaches: Introduction to Die Casting, Operating the Die Casting Machine, Die Casting Machine Safety, Dimensional Repeatability, Die Material Metallurgy & Extending Die Life, Engineering Die Casting Dies, Product Design, PQ2, Train the Trainer and Operator Training.

wpe5.jpg (2152 bytes)Tom Camel

Mr. Camel has been consulting in the die casting industry since 1987 and has rewritten the Die Casting Lubricants and Coolants training material to reflect new developments in the die cast industry. His experience includes analysis of die casting defects and process problems; evaluation of, and solutions to cleaning and painting problems; analysis of environmental issues.   He has authored numerous papers in metal casting technical/trade publications and forums in United States, Australia, Brazil, UK, and Italy. He is a frequent chapter speaker and has authored papers in NADCA TRANSACTIONS and DIE CASTING ENGINEER.  Mr. Camel has provided assistance to numerous die casters throughout the world and has been influential in new developments in die lubricants and plunger lubricants. Mr. Camel holds a B. S. in Chemistry from Michigan State University and has spent many years as a research chemist developing products for the steel, aluminum and die casting industries throughout the world.

Courses Tom teaches: Die Casting Lubricants and Coolants.

Paul Cnossen

Mr. Cnossen has been employed at Prince Machine since 1984. In this time he has held many different positions including Electronics Technician, Machine Builder, Field Service Technician, Machine Runoff, Inside Sales and Service, and presently as a Technical Education Instructor. He has been involved with technical education in one form or another since 1990 teaching mechanics, hydraulics, controls and machine operations.

He holds an associate’s degree in Applied Arts and Sciences.

Courses Paul teaches: Machine Maintenance: Mechanics, Process Control, Machine Maintenance: Hydraulics and Machine Maintenance: Electricity.

Tim Cowell

Tim is the president of Cowell Chemical Inc., a consulting and lubricant manufacturing company located in Peru, IN.

Before starting this company in 2005, Cowell was the technical director for G.W. Smith & Sons for six years, where he was responsible for new product development, working with customers on special projects and providing technical support to the sales engineers. He also worked for Chrysler Corporation, in Kokomo, IN, for 12 years as a chemical/metallurgical engineer.

Cowell earned a BS degree in chemistry from Cedarville University. He has authored several articles on paint adhesion problems and is currently an instructor for several NADCA courses.

Edmund A. Herman, PE

Mr. Herman holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering-Operations Research from the University of Michigan. He is a Professional Engineer registered in Michigan. He has 34 years experience in industry (General Motors) and five years as the Education Director for the Society of Die Casting Engineers (now NADCA). His industrial experience includes ten years as a die and process engineer for a die casting facility having full responsibility for getting the die casting dies and all other tooling designed, built and running for new die cast products; creation of physical standards for die casting dies and new die casting process developments such as the introduction of thermal analysis into the normal die design process. These responsibilities include equipment selection, plant layout, process control and the instruction of the operation and maintenance people involved with those products. He has 24 years with General Motors in new process development in the areas of molding sheet molding compounds and draw die developments for sheet metal stamping dies. Instrumental in the shift from physical plaster developments to total CAD design of sheet metal draw die developments within General Motors. He has authored several textbooks and magazine articles for NADCA and has instructed NADCA courses since 1972. He has taught continuing education courses on die casting, stamping and injection molding through Oakland and Wayne State Universities. He helped the Australian Government Fellowship to set up the Australian Advanced Certificate program on Die Casting, including writing the textbooks, which is being run by their Technical and Further Education (TAFE) system.

Courses Ed teaches: Engineering Die Casting Dies, Gating Design, Process Control and Die Casting Defects.

Scott Kirkman

Mr. Kirkman brings to the die casting industry 14 years experience working with Brillcast Inc., General Motors, Madison-Kipp, Nicollet Process Engineering and Strattec Security Corporation. Mr. Kirkman completed his B.S. degree in Engineering at GMI Engineering & Management Institute, Flint, MI, and is currently finishing his master’s degree in Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His area of expertise is the implementation of new technologies and methods in the die casting industry, particularly process monitoring technologies and statistically based process analysis and improvement. His future interests include the development of improved process planning tools to provide more deterministic methods for managing the die cast product cradle-to-grave loop.

Courses Scott teaches: Gating Design, Die Cast Problem Solving, Cost Estimating and Die Casting Lubricants & Coolants.

Alexander K. Monroe

Alex earned both his BS and MS degrees at the University of Iowa in Mechanical Engineering. He was the recipient of both the David Laine and Steven J. Harmon scholarships while in school. The focus of his undergraduate degree was on thermal fluids, manufacturing, and material processing. During his undergraduate degree, Alex interned at Eagle Alloy in Muskegon, MI. This plant produced steel and aluminum castings utilizing a variety of processes. Also, Alex interned at NADCA HQ over multiple periods. During this time, he wrote the energy assessment software, the reverse engineering tool, and participated in many NADCA projects.

His Master’s work focused on the simulation of shrinkage porosity in high pressure aluminum die castings. The research was supported by NADCA. During the research, Alex continued to provide engineering support on NADCA projects involving die cast tooling design and simulation.

Since January of 2009 Alex has been working as a project engineer at NADCA. In this position his responsibilities include, working with member companies, government labs, government agencies, and universities on research and development efforts, while also assisting with the technology transfer from research projects to NADCA members. As part of this work, Alex has written a new version of the gating software. Alex is the point person to field questions on Gating and PQ2 through the NADCA help line. Alex has worked in die casting plants on gating, porosity and process issues.

He also participated in PQ2 software development and training development. In addition, Alex has written a number of online courses including the PQ2, Gating, Greenhouse Gas, Arc-Flash, and Dross training. Alex has helped develop and teach courses on operating the die casting machine, and die casting die setups. Several of these courses were customized to address the specific needs of the die casting companies that received the training. Finally, Alex has developed courses on porosity and arc flash and has taught these courses via webinar and in-class instruction.

Alex continues to be an active member of NADCA’s technical committees keeping informed of the cutting edge of die casting technology.

Courses Alex teaches: PQ2 & Gating Design

David V. Neff

Mr. Neff holds a BS, MS, and a Ph.D in Metallurgy from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He is a member of NADCA, AFS, TMS and ASM. Neff has authored more than 60 papers in metalcasting technical/trade publications and forums in United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, UK, and Italy. He has 30 years experience in nonferrous and ferrous metal casting and supplier industries. Neff's major expertise is in molten metal treatment, product applications, technical service, sales and marketing of metalcasting product technology to the aluminum secondary, die casting, foundry, and mill products industries. Neff is currently employed as the Manager-Molten Metal Treatment for Metaullics Systems Division of Pyrotek, Inc. He has worldwide sales/marketing/technical service responsibility for filtration, degassing product technology.

Courses Dave teaches: Metal Management and Metallurgy of Die Casting Alloys.

Mike Paluchniak

Mike is the Northern Illinois Sales Representative for Die Cast Press Mfg. Co. Inc. and Heartland Machine and Automation Inc. Both companies are directly involved with providing maintenance and automation support for the Die Cast Industry.

Mike has 40 years of experience in the Die Cast Industry, working as a Die Cast Machine Operator, Maintenance Technician, Maintenance Foreman, and Maintenance Manager. During this time he developed methods to reduce maintenance costs while also keeping the die cast equipment always ready for operation.  In addition he has hired and successfully trained many individuals that have key positions in the industry today.

He was the General Manager for S.T.I. Inc. a die cast machine rebuilding company.  Here he transformed the “pins and bushings” replacement company into the first U.S.A. Company to offer a remanufactured die cast machine with complete Electro-Hydraulic Proportional Control of all of the operations, along with a highly advanced Proportional Shot Control System

Mike has authored numerous articles in the Die Cast Engineer, Die Cast World, Modern Metals, Sensor, and Inter Act publications. He also has a U.S.A. Patent for an improved High Temperature Alloy Die Casting Process.

Courses Mike teaches: Machine Maintenance: Hydraulics, Machine Maintenance: Electricity, Machine Maintenance: Mechanics.

Steve Udvardy

Stephen (Steve) P. Udvardy is the Director of Research, Education & Technology for the North American Die Casting Association where he has held this position for the past 13 years.  His responsibilities include: coordinating research & development efforts between member companies, government agencies, government laboratories and universities; enhancing and implementing the NADCA educational program and; further developing the level and quality of technology transfer between NADCA and its members. 

 Steve joined NADCA after serving 2 years as Vice President of Engineering & Technology for Teledyne Casting Service in La Porte, IN.  This foundry is a producer of large gray and ductile iron castings. 

Prior to his position at Teledyne, Steve managed the Materials Engineering Group and Materials Laboratory at Honeywell's (formerly, AlliedSignal Aerospace Company) Aircraft Landing Systems in South Bend, IN where he spent 15 years.  Aircraft Landing Systems is a manufacturer of aircraft wheels and brakes.

Steve holds both a B.S. and M.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering & Materials Science from the University of Notre Dame.

Courses Steve teaches: Quick Die Change, Die Material Metallurgy & Extending Die Life, Die Casting Defects & Die Casting Machine Safety

Mike Ward

Mr. Ward holds a B.S.M.E. from Drexel University and an M.B.A. from Wayne State University.

His professional experience includes: Ward & Associates–Consultant to Manufacturing, which provides engineered solutions to manufacturing operations. Most of the work is in the die casting industry-die cast engineering design, process development, facility planning, and financial analysis.

Prior to his employment at Ward & Associates, he worked at Dynacast as the Aluminum Manager and Manufacturing Engineering Manager. He built the Elgin aluminum die cast facility from scratch by developing and implementing a capital plan of $3.1 million; purchasing the equipment and machinery; hiring key engineers and supervisors; engineering the die and the process; having $1.1 million of tooling built; establishing the standard operating procedures, the control plan, and the preventative maintenance plan; launching the plant and was responsible for the aluminum P&L statement. He achieved an annual turnover rate of $8 million in 18 months. He later served as an internal consultant to Dynacast plants in North America and Europe working with zinc, aluminum, and magnesium. He also worked at Lunt Manufacturing as an Engineering Manager. He was responsible for design, construction, and process development of magnesium die cast dies. He also worked at Woodstock Die Cast as an Engineering Manager. He was responsible for the design, construction, and maintenance of zinc and aluminum casting dies and secondary tooling along with process development.

Courses Mike teaches: Gating Design, Die Cooling Systems Engineering, Process Control and Die Casting Defects.

Ed Wrench

Mr. Wrench is currently employed by Auto Cast Inc., Grandville, Mich. He started at Auto Cast as a die cast machine operator, and was named a maintenance position in 1990, and became a Process Engineer in 1993.

His responsibilities include working directly with the maintenance supervisor to ensure all equipment is maintained properly; purchasing and designing of new equipment; machine installations and startups; electrical control design systems and PLC Programming of all plant equipment; developing and establishing die casting process procedures and parameters for zinc and aluminum die casting machines and tools; training of all plant personnel in areas such as machine maintenance, shot monitoring equipment and machine setup; and working directly with product design department in new tool design and improving existing tools and their process parameters.

He is experienced in electrical control system troubleshooting and design, hydraulic control systems troubleshooting and design, machine repair and diagnosing of die cast machines, PLC programming and installations, die casting skills (gating, thermal, process engineering, die design), shot monitoring equipment installations and training.

He is a NADCA Certified Die Casting Technician and a NADCA Master of Die Casting Maintenance.

He attended Ferris State University and Grand Rapids Community College where he studied Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Hydraulics.

Courses Ed teaches:  Machine Maintenance: Hydraulics, Machine Maintenance: Mechanics, Machine Maintenance: Electricity, Gating Design and Process Control.